It's a lie. God is not punishing you.

It’s been nearly 25 years since he held the press conference in 1991. The venue was the Forum in Los Angeles and it hosted one of the greatest NBA teams of all times, the Los Angeles Lakers, who were simply known as “Showtime.” Magic Johnson stood before a room full of reporters and announced his retirement from the game. He had the HIV virus.

At that time, Magic and Larry Bird were two of the most visible faces of the NBA. They entered the league in 1976 after facing each other for the collegiate National Championship a few months earlier.

During the press conference, this highly recognized and well liked athlete made a statement that gave voice to the thinking and beliefs of many, including Christians: “God gave me the HIV virus to teach me and young people about the danger of having unprotected sex."

That day, Magic “confirmed” and “legitimized” what most Christians believed and sadly, still believe today – God will punish you with disease or sickness to teach you a lesson.

But it’s a lie.

It’s a lie birthed by Satan that has been strategically and methodically propagated for centuries. Sadly, it is one of the strongest ungodly beliefs living in the hearts and minds of many Christians.

It’s odd. Christians, who say they love and serve God, are holding on to and believing a lie about Him.

Many Christians point to God’s interaction with people in the Old Testament as justification for believing this lie. Why? Because they don’t understand they are not like the believers of the Old Testament.

God dealt with them differently than He does with those of His own household because they were different. They didn’t have His life living inside of them. And even then, God didn’t place sickness and disease on them.

He couldn’t.

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (I John 1:5) The Amplified Bible renders the latter part of the verse this way: God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [no, not in any way].

The word “no” in the Greek is ou and expresses the strongest negation possible. In other words, there is no possible way to attribute to God the bad things that happen to people unless you reject the witness of Scripture.

Let’s look at one more witness.

“Let no man say when he is tempted (tested or tried), I am tempted (tested or tried) of God: for God cannot be tempted (tested or tried) with evil, neither tempteth (tests or tries) he any man.” (James 1:13) The Amplified says it this way: “Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one.”

If there is nothing in God that can cause Him to be tempted to do evil, how can He be the one who gave Magic Johnson the HIV virus to teach him a lesson?

He didn’t.

Then how did Magic get the HIV virus?

In this situation, the 14^th verse has the answer.

“But every man is tempted (tested and tried) when he is drawn away of (by) his own lust, and enticed.”

The words “drawn away,” “own lust” and “enticed” create an image of a person whose desire is so strong that he is baited like a fish and fulfills it. And when this happens, verse 15 says "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth (gives birth to) sin." 

Now read the last part of verse 15: “and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

When we open the door to sin and sin runs its course (fully matures), it can lead to our physical death. If we don’t repent of the sin, it can lead to our spiritual death. Sobering thoughts.

Is God causing the death? No. The person causes the death by his or her actions. In the case of Magic Johnson, he contracted the HIV virus by his actions, not because God was punishing him for those actions.

Let me end with James 1:16 and 17.

“Do not err, my beloved brethren. ("Don’t err in thinking that God brings evil into your life to tempt you child of God.") Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no (ou) variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Doesn’t this sound a lot like I John 1:5?

Never again believe the lie that your Heavenly Father will bring sickness or disease or any kind of hardship into your life to teach you a lesson.

I am a father and I wouldn’t do that to my children. Am I a better father than God? I think not!

When does a black life matter?

When black men die at the hands of white police officers, the national media plays and replays the incident and the "reaction" of the black community. Very rarely do we see the "reaction" of the white community. (But that's a blog for another day.)

When black men die at the hands of white police officers, "black leaders" will shout loud and long about how the culture of white entitlement must be changed. When riots occur, in the black neighborhoods, these same "black leaders" tell us that what we are seeing is frustration lashing out as a result of years of systemic abuse and neglect.

There will never be a justifiable reason for rioting and then destroying another person's property.

But society does have the right to hold accountable those who are charged with protecting society and enforcing the law when they betray the public trust.

What bothers me about Ferguson and Baltimore (and others to come) is this: when one black man was dying at the hands of a white police officer, many were dying at the hands of other black men.

Think about this.

Where was the national news coverage crying for justice for the black men who were killed by other black men?

Where were the organized marches seeking justice for the black men who were killed by other black men?.

Where were the riots for the black men who were killed by other black men?

Where was the black community's outcry and anger for the black men who were killed by other black men?

Where were the "black leaders" when the black men were killed by other black men? Why were they silent?

It really bothers me that the life of a black man only matters to the national news media, the black community and "black leaders" when it is taken by a white police officer.

Ask the black mother whose son was killed by another black man if his life mattered? Do you believe she will grieve less because her son did not die at the hands of a white police officer or that she will have fewer sleepless nights? Do you really?

A white police officer does not make a black life more important.

A black man does not make a black life less important.

And the news media doesn't care. All it wants is a story.

I, for one, am tired of the hypocrisy.

Pray for the Supreme Court Justices

So many Christians today support same-sex marriage. And that saddens me and I know it saddens our Heavenly Father even more.

And for those of us who believe what the bible says about marriage, many are feeling helpless and are buying into the lie that it’s a foregone conclusion that the Supreme Court will legalize same sex marriage – a concept that God condemns in scripture.  

Why it a lie? The issue has yet to be adjudicated. But Satan, the enemy of the soul, and his demons have unleashed a full court press to convince Christians that “the game is over and you have lost.”

I don’t believe a word this rascal says.

Don’t you think it’s time that we confront this liar and derail the destruction that he is orchestrating?

Pray that the justices’ personal views and biases will not override reason.

Pray that God will enter their dreams and give them a glimpse of what will happen in and to America if same-sex marriage is legalized. (Trust me, it will be worse than anything you can imagine.)

Pray that angels surround the Supreme Court building and that the demonic powers that have been pushing this issue find themselves and their influence locked out.

Pray that God’s peace saturates the court room and the minds of the justices are clear and they hear what the enemy of the soul doesn’t want them to hear.

Pray that the justices will follow the rule of law.

Folks, we are sons and daughters and have been given authority over all the works of the enemy. It’s time for us to exercise what our Father has given to us.

Imagining the Genesis 3 Story

When Lucifer persuaded one third of the angels in heaven to take a position against God, he was cast out of heaven. What did he do to warrant such severe punishment? He was cast out of the place where eternal life dwelled because of pride and what it produced in his life. (Ezekiel 28:17a)

Lucifer’s pride manifested itself in behavior that have become the hallmarks of his presence.  

·        He began to think more highly of himself than he should have. (Ezekiel 28:13-15, Romans 12:1-3; Psalms 10:4)

·        He began to murmur against God which led to his rebellion. (Isaiah 14:12-14. Numbers 14:27-30a)

·        He sowed deceit and false doctrine among the angels. (Revelations 12:7-9, 2 Corinthians 4:1-2)

Lucifer and his angels turned their backs on an eternity in the presence of God. Now their eternity is death – separation from God forever with no possible reinstatement of life.

Having been stripped of everything that was dear to him, Lucifer’s rage increased against his Creator. God had to pay for what he had done to him, he reasoned. So he waited.

Lucifer saw God create a universe and then the earth. Day after day he watched as God brought forth life – birds, fish, animals, plants. But it was on the day that God made man that Lucifer saw, once again, God’s heart.

He saw God’s love and tenderness as He formed, made and created man. And when man took his first breath Lucifer saw an expression on God’s face that he had never seen before. He saw the love of a Father for His son. (Genesis 2:7)

God had never looked at him that way, he thought, as he looked on with anger and disgust. “I was the cherub of cherubs. I was the one the other angels followed. I served God but He never looked at me that way,” he said.  

So he watched. The bond between Father and son began to grow so strong that the Father brought all of the animals to His son and said “I want you to name them and whatever you decide that will be its name.”

Lucifer saw the Father’s heart even more when He brought Eve to Adam. When His son saw his spouse and smiled, the Father smiled too. But someone else also smiled.

God had told Adam he could eat from every tree in the garden but one – the tree of knowledge of good and evil. “If you eat of that tree,” God said as He placed His hand on Adam’s chest, “one day the beating of your heart will stop and when it does you will die.”

Then God looks at Adam and said sternly, “But that’s not the most important reason my son. If you eat of the tree you will no longer be my son and I will no longer be your Father.”

Lucifer hears God’s instructions to His son. “Ah,” he said to himself, “now I know how I can hurt the one who is now a father. I will go after the son and his wife. I will make them like me.”

He watches the son and his wife and he sees how they interact and respond to each other. He’s fascinated by the humans. The more he studies them the more clearly he sees a pattern emerge. The woman can influence the man.

Lucifer, the serpent, approaches Eve with the same seductive prowess that he used to condemn one-third of God’s angels to eternal damnation. He is like the strange woman in Proverbs 7, who, from her window, smiles as she sees her unsuspecting prey.

The serpent woos Eve. His deadly doctrine is so easy to hear and seemed so right – “If you eat, you will not die but you will be like a god yourself,” he whispers to her over and over again. The more she listens, the more she begins to believe his lie. She looks at the fruit and images its sweetness and how it can make her more like God and she wants to be more like Him. So she yields. (Genesis 3:6)

Like the unsuspecting suitor in Proverbs 7, Eve never sees the deadly dart the serpent’s flattering lips produces until Adam eats the fruit from the forbidden tree. The dart strikes Adam and Eve, ripping through the very life of God.

When Adam and Eve believe the serpent’s doctrine of death that sound so much like life, they walk away from love. They walk away from an eternity that would have been lived in the presence of God into a death and into a place where eternal life did not dwell.

Eve was deceived because she listened to the voice from without that spoke deceit and death into her life. But to her, it didn’t sound like death at all. It sounded like “being more like God.”

I can see her letting the serpent’s words roll around in her mind and smiling. “I know God loves me. I can feel it when I’m in His presence. Why wouldn’t He want me to know more of His love and be more like Him? The serpent isn’t telling me I can’t be more like God. In fact, he’s saying I can be more like God just by eating of the tree.”

Eve chooses to listen to the voice from without that appeals to her soul and emotions. She is seduced and persuaded to believe in “a life” that was different from the life that God had “planned for her”. She is deceived into doing what pleases her rather than what pleases her Creator. In her mind, there was no difference.

The serpent had convinced Eve that “roaming from the safety of truth” – ignoring God’s command to not eat of the tree – was not really that unsafe when in fact, it was deadly. (Romans 2:13-15) The check in her spirit – the voice from within – went unnoticed. She didn’t hear the life in her screaming “Eve, don’t eat of the tree. Don’t do it.” She didn’t hear the life that was just like the life of her Creator.

However, with one simple act of obedience, Adam could have preserved the course of human history. He simply had to obey God’s command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:15-17) He could have prevented the devil’s free and unrestrained access to man’s soul and emotions. Adam ignored the voice from within too. (I Timothy 2:13-14; Genesis 3:17)

Again, all it would have taken to preserve eternal life for man was one man’s simple act of obedience. Fortunately for us, our story doesn’t end with Genesis 3. It only pauses. Another man’s simple act of obedience gave us an opportunity to choose life. That man was Jesus Christ.

Now think about how different your life, lived through simple obedience to God through your born again spirit, can be from this day forward. I have!

Division is his middle name

If we believe what we see and hear in the media about white police officers, we will come to the conclusion that most, if not all, white police officers are racist. It’s not true.

In fact, let’s just call it what it truly is – a lie from Satan’s throne room. 

Division is Satan’s middle name. 

Remember, this is the same angel who convinced one-third of the angels that God couldn't be trusted and that He wasn't a loving and just leader. Satan convinced them that he would be a better ruler than their Creator. 

He’s that good and he's that deadly. 

If he can get us (blacks and whites) to look at each other with suspicion and mistrust, he will do to us what he did in Heaven. He first caused division in the ranks, angels against angels. The angels who listened to his lies and deceptions believed them and rebelled against God. They separated themselves from their Creator.

Trust me, Satan’s tactics have not changed. He wants us to separate ourselves from one another. He wants the body of Christ to be a mere shell of who we truly are – sons and daughters of God who have the power and authority to make him a feeble, clawless, and toothless lion. 

But we won’t do that as long as we are divided and racism, quite honestly, is so easy for him to put into play.

Am I saying that racism doesn't exist? No. Am I saying that the death of Michael Brown, for example, was not an act of racism? No. I am also not saying it was 100% a racist act. I have lived long enough to know that very few things in life are what they appear to be.

"Gee, Barry, what world are you living in?" I'm living in the same world Adam screwed up back in Genesis 3. So are you. I'm living in a world dominated by sin and the sin nature. So are you. I'm living in a world that is the puppet of the evil puppet master, Satan. So are you. Are you seeing my point?

I've experienced acts of racism over the years but the acts of a few have not caused me to distrust the many. The respectful, positive, kind and loving interactions I've had with those who are white are far too numerous to have me living in suspicion no matter how many times it’s loudly trumpeted in the media.

Maybe it’s the gray hair on my face but negative interactions with white police officers, at least for me, have been virtually nonexistent. I’m not saying they can’t happen, but what I am saying is that the few are magnified and feed the mindset that, if you are black, there is something inherently untrustworthy about white police officers. 

I'm not making that leap. 

I've had interactions with white police officers over the years and none resembled what we see in the media today. 

Life is too short for me to live my life expecting to experience the worst whenever I see a patrol car with a white face. I refuse to live that way. I refuse to buy into Satan’s way of thinking. I refuse to believe that the few represent the many.

Whenever we are willing to believe the worst about another person because of what we have experienced or what others have experienced, we are all diminished. 

The Key To Increasing Your Faith

Over the years I've heard numerous messages on faith and they primarily focused on getting your prayers answered and receiving things from God. So much of what we hear about faith is designed to motivate us to pursue it for ourselves and the things we desire.

And because we have a “me” attitude, many in the Body of Christ are not walking in their faith potential. We don’t truly understand the purpose of faith and the things we can do to help it grow.

The Bible provides a beautiful analogy to help us understand why God equipped us with faith and what’s required of us to increase our faith. But first, what is our “faith potential”?

Our “faith potential” is our measure of faith

When we are born again we receive “the measure of faith” we need to fulfill the calling God places on our lives (Romans 12:3). We receive “the” measure of faith not “a” measure of faith. Faith is not something you divvy up and distribute. For example, if the total percentage of faith is 100%, my measure may be 2% and someone else’s may be 5% and so on. This is not what this verse is saying.

The “measure” our Father gives us is 100% of the faith we will need to serve Him. Colossians 2:10 says “And ye are complete (Gk. pleroo, filled to capacity) in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” Everything Jesus was when he was on earth is now in us.

Do you remember the story in Matthew 17 about the father who brings his son to the disciples so they can cast a devil out of him? They couldn’t and Jesus tells them why – “because of your unbelief” (verse 20). It’s at this point that Jesus teaches them about the need to grow their faith. In verse 21 he says, “Howbeit, this kind (of faith, not devil) goeth out not but by prayer and fasting.”

Jesus is teaching us what we must do to grow our faith. He says that we must pray and fast. Why do we need to do pray and fast? What is Jesus really saying here?

The Schoolmaster Analogy

Earlier I mentioned an analogy that exemplifies how our Father equipped us with faith and what we must do to increase our faith. In the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul is writing to Gentile believers who are being taught by Jewish Christians that in addition to grace they also needed the law. In essence, the epistle is Paul’s re-teaching them why they don’t have to serve the law.

In Galatians 3:16-19 Paul says the law came 430 years after God made the promise to Abraham and his seed. The law was given because of man’s sinful nature and provided boundaries for Israel until the promised seed, Jesus, could be born.

Now let’s go to verses 23 and 24. “But before faith came (before Jesus was born), we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

In the Hebrew culture, the master’s most trusted slave was the heir’s schoolmaster or tutor. From the time he was 3 or 4 years old, the slave taught the heir about his father, about his father’s business and who he was as a member of his father’s house.

The Schoolmaster’s three crucial responsibilities

1. He had to teach the heir about his father.
2. He had to teach the heir about his father’s business.
3. He had to teach the heir how to be a son in his father’s house.

Until the heir completely and thoroughly understands who his father is, what’s important to his father and what it means to be a son, he is not ready to steward his inheritance.

Now let’s look at the first two verses of chapter 4. “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.”

The heir has to grow into the responsibility of stewarding his inheritance. Even though he is a child, he has standing but he doesn't have power and authority. The father is not holding back the son’s inheritance. The son’s inheritance is waiting for him to grow into it.

In verse 2 it says the heir is under tutors and governors “until the time appointed of the father.” The father determines when the son is ready to access his inheritance. Who else determines when the heir is ready?

The Father and the heir determine his readiness

The schoolmaster, tutor, prepares the heir for the day he will be presented to his father, usually around 13 or 14 years old. The father’s goal is to assess the heir’s readiness to receive the inheritance.

• Does he have the look and demeanor of one in authority?
• Does his words command respect?
• Will he properly represent the family’s interests?

The true measure of readiness is determined by the heir’s interactions and conversations with his father over time. It’s determined by the amount of time he spends with his father – spends in his father’s presence. This allows the father to probe a little deeper.

• How will he respond if this happened?
• How will he treat those who love him and depend on him?
• How will he spend the family’s resources?  
• What does he value above all things?
• What standard will guide him as he conducts the family's business?

These are the types of questions the father will ask to see if the son is ready – mature enough – to handle his inheritance. Are you seeing the picture?

The Father is looking for himself in his son

The father will assess his son’s knowledge, ability and willingness to steward the inheritance exactly like he himself would steward it. The father has to know that his son will do the exact same thing in a given situation that he himself would do. He had to know that his son’s heart beat with his heart.

The Schoolmaster Analogy for us

When we are born again, we receive a tutor – Holy Spirit. John 16:13 says He will guide us into all truth. He is responsible for helping us understand

• who our Father is
• what’s important to our Father and
• who we are as God's sons and daughters.

Remember Jesus said in Matthew 17 that the faith needed to cast out the devil is the result of praying and fasting?

As we spend time with Holy Spirit praying in tongues, we begin to build our faith (Jude 20). When we fast, we are mortifying the flesh and putting it to death (Romans 8:13). As we build our faith we begin to understand and know the Father’s heart. As we build our faith we begin to understand and know that there is nothing more important to our Father than saving people from an eternity without Him (1 Timothy 2:4). As we build our faith we begin to understand and know who we are as sons and daughters and how to demonstrate our Father’s love to a lost and dying world.

As grow in this understanding, we please our Father (Hebrews 11:6) and our Father is pleased to give us access to more of our inheritance. Why? He knows that we will use our inheritance in the exact same way He would use it if He were here on earth.

Jesus is our model

In John 5:19 we read “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”

How did Jesus “see” things like the Father “sees” them? How did He know that what He did the Father would do? Jesus spent time with His father. He developed a relationship with Him by spending time with Him. (Luke 6:12, John 5:30, 7:16, 8:26, 38, 55)

The key to increasing our faith? Pursue a deep and intimate relationship with our Father. Spend time with the one who is sent to tutor us, Holy Spirit.

When we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, He is showing us who our Father is.

When we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, He is showing us what is important to our Father.

When we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, He is showing us who we are in the Father's family.

Jesus opened blind eyes because that’s what his Father would do. 

Jesus healed lame legs because that’s what his Father would do.

Jesus healed sickness and disease because that’s what his Father would do.

Jesus opened deaf ears and gave sight to the blind because that’s what his Father would do.

As sons and daughters of God, we should be doing what our Father would do if He were physically here on earth. But are we?

Are you pleasing your Father? Is your life a reflection of His life here on earth? As your faith grows, as you spend time with Holy Spirit, so does your Father’s pleasure and your access to your inheritance. Why? Because you are developing a heart for people. You are developing a heart that beats with His heart just like Jesus's did.

Right now, my heart is not fully in rhythm with my Father's. But as I spend time with Holy Spirit, it will beat closer and closer to His until one day there will be no difference. How about you?

Adrian Peterson: How Should We Respond?

There is a public outcry against Minnesota Viking running back Adrian Peterson for whipping his sons and leaving bruising on their bodies. (We didn’t call “whippings” spankings when I was a boy.)

I’ve seen this type of bruising on a child before – after he deliberately disobeyed his parents. I was whipped – “taken to the woodshed” – and sometimes I had bruising on my arms and legs. When a child is whipped – disciplined in such a manner – there will be bruising.

“Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.” (Proverbs 23:13)

My Mom and Dad didn’t believe in sending you to the corner or to time-out. They were more demonstrative in expressing their dissatisfaction with our rebellion. Their message to us was clear: if we tell you to do something but you decide to do something else, you will be disciplined. You will be whipped. (But I don’t believed this applied to their grandchildren.)

“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” (Proverbs 22:15)

I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s and no one gave me a second look when they saw swollen red areas on my arms or legs. They knew I had gotten a whipping and that I probably deserved it. (Yeah, I always did.) And my teachers showed absolutely no concern for my bruising. (Yeah, they knew I probably deserved the whipping too.) All of them knew my parents. I can’t tell you the number of times I heard “Do you want me to tell John or Dorothy on you?” I kid you not.

My Mom and Dad were the most loving parents a child could ever have. They were not abusive. But they didn’t spare the rod or the switch or the belt or the paddle. By the way, I also saw swollen red areas on the arms and legs of other kids in the neighborhood. My parents were by no means alone in how they disciplined their children.

“He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” (Proverbs 13:24)

My Mom and Dad taught us that we had boundaries and they were not boundaries of our own choosing. My parents knew that if they didn’t teach us to obey them and to respect their authority while we were at home the odds were good that we would be less willing to obey others and less respectful of authority when we left home.

Let me tell you what I believe we’re witnessing today.

The enemy of the soul (the devil, satan) wants our emotions regarding this issue to be so outraged and so disgusted that we are willing to take another step on the path toward disapproval of any type of child discipline. We are heading toward a time in this country when parents will see jail time for whipping their children. I am not joking.

Can you image what some people would say about my Mom and Dad today if they saw me going to school with swollen red areas on my arms or legs? My teacher would pull me out of class and take me to the principal’s office and he would talk to me about the bruising. Depending on my response, he would decide if outside intervention was warranted. Notice what I said. The principal would make that determination based on a conversation with me – the child who is sore and angry – and not after a conversation with the child, who is sore and angry, and his parents.

Now let me ask you a question: a child who has been disciplined because he was in rebellion – who is sore and angry with his Mom or Dad – what are the chances of that child being completely truthful about what led to the whipping? Are you following me?

Now, I’m not defending Mr. Peterson’s actions. But I am not throwing him under the bus either. Many Christians are judging and condemning him based on what they’ve read or seen in the news and social media. It reminds me of a lyric from Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.” “People say believe half of what you see, son, and none of what you hear.” I believe there’s a lot of truth to that.

As Christians, how should we respond to what we’re seeing and hearing about Mr. Peterson? How about we take our cues from Jesus. Remember the story of the woman who as caught in adultery? I’m not going to get into the one-sidedness of this whole affair but the indictment against the religious leaders was clear. Jesus is teaching in the temple and the religious leaders drag this woman into the temple – I’m sure kicking and screaming -- and make her stand in front of him. “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?” (John 8:4, 5) Jesus’ response was clear and telling: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And they which heard it being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one …” (John 8:9a)

All of us have done things in our lives that we wish we could do over. And we’re glad that we’re not like those in the public eye where everything they do is open for scrutiny and ridicule. The things we wish we’d never done are safe. We will do everything we can to make sure “they never see the light of day.” And yet, we pounce on those who live everyday of their lives “in the light of day.”

I got news for you. Your life is in the public domain. Just ask God. You are more exposed than you realize. When you speak, you are exposing what is at work on the inside of you. And if what you say is condemning and judging, guess what is working on the inside of you? Do you think Jesus would respond to this situation the way many Christians are responding?

Let’s find out by going back to the woman caught in adultery. And let’s be clear – the accusations were true. “When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:10-11).

If Adrian Peterson did in fact go too far in disciplining his sons, the last thing he needs from the body of Christ is our condemnation. What he needs is our love, our mercy and our intercession. Isn’t that what Jesus showed the woman in John 8?